I would be very surprised if that ended up being the case. HLS profs aren't supposed to grade class participation in 1L courses.

May I know where this rule locates? I glanced over the Handbook of Academic Policies, but didn't find anything like this.

It would be nice if these types of rules were documented publicly. The best we have are private conversations with professors who divulged the types of standards they are held to.

We know there is a recommended curve for classes over 30 students (this means LPs) and that this curve is more strictly enforced during 1L. We also know that professors giving an exam generally must engage in blind grading, which is why you have a unique exam ID every term and are specifically disallowed from indicating on your exam who you are. There are exceptions to blind grading, most obviously when you write a paper for a class instead of taking an exam.

In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students? You can read about how this was a big issue five years ago. General consensus is they've clamped down on participation grading a bit since that fiasco. But, as mentioned above, we don't know for sure.

A lot of visiting professors for 1L classes like to say they grade participation to frighten students into participating. It's a common visiting theme. But you probably don't have any tenured professors telling students they grade cold calls when they don't because they're figured out it's just a mean thing to do. (And lying to students isn't a good way to establish credibility.)

In other words, I have nothing to reference. It's just conventional understanding. It could be wrong. It probably shouldn't affect how you prepare for class either way.

Thanks for the clarification! Then I guess my professor just doesn't follow the crowd

I would be very surprised if that ended up being the case. HLS profs aren't supposed to grade class participation in 1L courses.

May I know where this rule locates? I glanced over the Handbook of Academic Policies, but didn't find anything like this.

It would be nice if these types of rules were documented publicly. The best we have are private conversations with professors who divulged the types of standards they are held to.

We know there is a recommended curve for classes over 30 students (this means LPs) and that this curve is more strictly enforced during 1L. We also know that professors giving an exam generally must engage in blind grading, which is why you have a unique exam ID every term and are specifically disallowed from indicating on your exam who you are. There are exceptions to blind grading, most obviously when you write a paper for a class instead of taking an exam.

In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students? You can read about how this was a big issue five years ago. General consensus is they've clamped down on participation grading a bit since that fiasco. But, as mentioned above, we don't know for sure.

A lot of visiting professors for 1L classes like to say they grade participation to frighten students into participating. It's a common visiting theme. But you probably don't have any tenured professors telling students they grade cold calls when they don't because they're figured out it's just a mean thing to do. (And lying to students isn't a good way to establish credibility.)

In other words, I have nothing to reference. It's just conventional understanding. It could be wrong. It probably shouldn't affect how you prepare for class either way.

Thanks for the clarification! Then I guess my professor just doesn't follow the crowd

For now.One of my professors tried something similar.I don't know whether someone officially complained to the registrar or whether the word just got out, but he came to class about the third week and explained how he would be revising the grading scale from what was printed in the syllabus (getting rid of cold calls). These sorts of "innovations" have a way of getting knocked out well before exams come up.

TripTrip wrote:In classes over 60 students (even in 2L and 3L) professors don't grade participation because, quite simply, how the hell do you keep track of the participation of that many students?

Seems to me you've never taken a class with Jeannie Suk? She has a TA come in every class to keep a meticulous record every cold call, and the call list is generated in random sequence in advance. We were under the impression that it could adversely impact your grade if it was clear that you hadn't done the reading or made no effort to come up with a half-way decent answer, and nobody thought she was bluffing. But yeah, most profs would not go to this length.

Does anyone know a good E&E for Parker's fourteenth? I was looking at this but was unsure b/c it's "individual rights" - haven't really been keeping up this semester so idk how well that'll fit the class. Thanks!